1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having an operational mode of reading and processing an image. Specifically, the present invention relates to an image forming apparatus allowing a user to confirm a state of the image and to edit the image by displaying a preview image, as well as to a display console usable in such an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Background Art
As one type of image processing apparatuses as electronic equipment, image forming apparatuses (typically, copy machines) are introduced to many places of business (companies and offices). A main function of an image forming apparatus is to form an image on a sheet of recording paper. Therefore, it is often the case that the image forming apparatus has a printer function, a copy function and the like. The image forming apparatus are often connected to a network, to allow use by a plurality of users. A multifunction peripheral (MFP) has been known as one type of such image forming apparatuses. An MFP has a scanner function, and has a plurality of basic operational modes such as a copy mode, a facsimile mode (hereinafter “facsimile” may also be denoted as FAX or fax), and a network-supported printer mode. It is expected that the scanner function will be used more frequently in the future in such image forming apparatuses. In the copy mode and facsimile mode also, it is possible to read an image using the scanner function and to set functions such as duplex (two-sided) printing, collective printing (such as 2-in-1 by which two pages of an original document are printed on one sheet, or 4-in-1 by which four pages of an original document are printed on one sheet), and enlargement or reduction of size.
When using such an image forming apparatus, by way of example, the user makes the following operations. First, the user has image data read by the image forming apparatus in the scanner mode. Thereafter, the user inputs various instructions through an operation panel, and performs image processing (such as collection). Then, the user gives an instruction to start a final processing of the image (printing to a sheet of paper, transmission by facsimile, and saving as a file). A screen image allowing setting of functions in various operational modes, for example, is displayed on the operation panel. Therefore, it is possible for the user to easily set various functions. While a job is being executed, job progress status is displayed on the operation panel. Therefore, it is possible for the user to easily grasp the progress status of the job. It is possible to avoid user's irritation caused when the job progress status cannot be known.
Recently, a touch-panel display comes to be increasingly used as such an operation panel. A touch-panel display includes a liquid crystal panel (display panel) and a touch-panel stacked on the liquid crystal panel. Typically, items (software buttons) allowing selection of an operational mode of the image forming apparatus are displayed on the touch-panel display. Viewing the display, the user presses a position where a desired item is displayed, on the touch-panel display. For the user, it seems as if he/she has pressed a software button. Information related to which position has been pressed is transmitted to a computer controlling the image forming apparatus, and what operation is to be carried out is determined in accordance with the position, by a program running on the computer.
The touch-panel display provides both the display function and the operation function. The touch-panel display is advantageous in that it occupies a smaller area for installation than a display unit and an operation unit provided separately, it allows various and many manners of display, and it provides various and many functions. Recently, a function of recognizing a trace of a user's finger in contact with and moved over the surface of touch-panel display has been realized. Because of this function, if the user moves his/her finger on the touch-panel display, an appropriate instruction intuitively matching the movement can be given. In the present specification, operation of an electronic device through such an operation will be referred to as “gesture operation.” The gesture operation includes the following.
Assume that a preview of an image read by the scanning function is displayed on the touch-panel display. At this time, for example, the following operations are possible.
(1) The user may lightly taps twice a position where an image is displayed. Such an operation will be hereinafter referred to as double-tapping. When an image is double-tapped, the image display may be enlarged or reduced, or a transition is made to a mode allowing edition of the image.
(2) The user may move his/her two fingers to expand a space between the fingers. Such an operation will be hereinafter referred to as pinch-out or pinch-open. If the user pinches-out or pinches-open an image, the image may be displayed in enlargement, corresponding to the movement of the fingers.
(3) The user may move his/her two fingers to make smaller a space between the fingers. Such an operation will be hereinafter referred to as pinch-in or pinch-close. If the user pinches-in or pinches-close an image, the image may be displayed in reduced size, corresponding to the movement of the fingers.
Other examples of the gesture operations may include: tapping, or lightly touching a position where an image is displayed; dragging, or sliding a displayed image with a finger; flicking, or lightly sweeping a displayed image to scroll; and pinching a displayed image with two fingers. It is noted that the tapping and double-tapping do not involve detection of the user operation trajectory on the touch-panel display and, hence, strictly speaking, these may not be gestures. Here, however, the above-described operations including tapping and double-tapping will be generally referred to as gesture operations.
In the present specification, any operation on the touch-panel display other than the gesture operations described above will be referred to as a touch operation. The touch operation refers to an operation for realizing a function in place of a hardware key, and not a direct operation on the image. Typically, it refers to an operation of detecting a user request based on the display position of software buttons (generally, user interface components) displayed on the touch-panel display and the position of user operation on the touch-panel display.
An MFP having such a touch-panel display as the operation panel allows various finish processes on the image. The finish processes include settings related to various image processing operations including margin size, stamping, stapling or punching. With such a finish process or processes set, however, sometimes the actual printing fails. For example, it is not unusual that a user sets a finish with punched holes and when actually printed, the output is a failed copy having images overlapped with the positions of holes to be punched. This leads to waste of consumables (toner and recording paper).
In order to solve such a problem, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2008-203439 (herein after referred to as '439 Reference) discloses an image forming apparatus providing an image preview on a basic screen image of a copy operational mode.
In the image forming apparatus, the screen image is roughly divided into three. On opposite side areas, software buttons for setting conditions at the time of image formation and setting conditions for finish are arranged. At the center, a preview image of a document is arranged. There are a plurality of different manners of displaying the preview image. In the first manner, a prescribed number (5) of images are arranged in landscape orientation. Here, the image positioned at the center is displayed in a larger size than other images. In the second manner, odd-numbered pages and even-numbered pages are displayed in two-page spread. If the number of pages is large, the spread pages are displayed stacked like a book. In the third manner, a plurality of document images are displayed arranged in a matrix. If the document images are too large in number to be displayed on a screen image, the screen image is scrolled to allow viewing of all pages.
As described in '439 Reference, by effectively utilizing the preview, it is possible to confirm the finish state of the document, and to reduce failure of copying. The image forming apparatus, however, still has a problem. By way of example, assume that previews of a plurality of pages are to be displayed. When a certain page among the images of the plurality of pages is to be moved to another page, a series of pages including these pages must be displayed on the preview area. If the number of pages to be displayed increases, it becomes difficult to confirm the contents of each image, and possibility of moving the image to an erroneous position becomes higher. Further, if the number of images to be displayed increases, the reduction ratio of preview image becomes higher, so that it becomes difficult to confirm the contents of each image and to confirm the finish of the copy.